


Chasing Flames

by skysedge



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Gen, I just really like Elmott as a teacher okay, Introspection, Mysteria Academy, Non-Explicit Sex, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 02:58:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18730336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skysedge/pseuds/skysedge
Summary: It's not the ecstasy of a starting a fire and watching it spread but it burns all the same.





	Chasing Flames

**Author's Note:**

> Introspective drabble about Blazing Teacher Elmott because I'm soft for this dumb arsonist ok.

It's not the ecstasy of a starting a fire and watching it spread but it burns all the same.

His hands on her thighs, his name on her lips, the searing heat of her. He drowns in it, bathes in its radiance, breaks her skin with his sharp teeth and leaves her sated.

He's not a good person. What would the students think? Hell, he'd like to hear it. He doesn't fit in at the academy and he knows it but that doesn't mean he can't enjoy it while it lasts. He hasn't lied, hasn't made promises he can't keep or claimed emotions he doesn't feel. Everything is honest, simple, clear. It means he won't have any regrets when he leaves.

"See you in class, Miss Miranda."

She's already asleep and it's better that way. She'll have forgotten him in a week, two at the most. Good. She has her own life to be living. She had been alight for him and they've burned out together, fast and bright then gone like a flare in the night sky. Finished.

Everything burns in the end.

 

It's not the same as being alone. The roar of flames sounds different when he has an audience, almost like the fire itself knows they have to do more here than just burn for the sake of it. It's not the same but that doesn't mean it's worse, or better. It's a different beast entirely.

The kids think he's cool. Hah. They don't get him at all. Sure for now he's playing the part of teacher, he's got the fancy clothes and the classroom, but that's where it ends. He's the same strange, ostracized boy he's always been only now he's wanted somewhere.

Weird. Unfair, really. Ah well. It's too late to whine about that now.What's important is the students, what he can teach them. To hell with rules and homework and tests, they won't help anyone. Instead he shows them, works them hard, sees them improve little by little.

Pride is a slow burn that starts deep in his chest. It's not his place to feel it, this isn't his academy, these aren't his students. It burns in him regardless, gentle and warm.

  
They're good kids. All of them. Even the bad ones, the ones the real teachers seem too frightened to teach. They're just different, that's all, misguided, and he knows how it feels to carry such labels around with you. They don't have to end up like him. For them there's still time. 

But they're not all so difficult. It's during his last lesson that a small girl with the softest voice in class manages to cast the spell she's been working on all week. The fireball is larger than she is and his grin is all teeth, equal parts pride and pure joy. It's a beautiful fire. An innocent flame. He moves to congratulate her but she speaks before he can find the words.

"It's so pretty," she says, her voice filled with wonder. "Did I do it right?"

She gets it. She _gets_ it. He pats her head, cheeks hurting with how wide his smile is.

"You did it great," he tells her. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"I won't!"

He wants her to succeed. He wants them all to burn as bright as they can. Not for the academy or for their teachers, not even for him, but for themselves. As the others gather around them, filled with praise and congratulations, he's sure that they will.

  
It's not the thrill of a blaze but it burns all the same. Time up, game over, it's all come to an end.

He's not a good person. If he was then he would speak with more gravity, he would learn to respect authority and hierarchy, he would be able to resist succumbing to his urges and desires. He's not a good person but they act like he is, all waving him off from the windows and asking him to come back soon. And he won't, he _can't_ , this isn't his scene, but he knows he's leaving part of his heart here whether he wants to or not.

And they don't hate him. They're not judging him. That's exactly why he has to leave. If he stays he'll push it too far, do something unforgivable. It's the same with the crew that he's returning to. It can't last forever. He'll live to the full while he can, give his all for them, and then move on to something new.

But he'll miss them. Just like he'll miss these kids, these colleagues. The weight of it is cold, creeping like ice in winter. But that too won't last.

In the end, everything burns.

 


End file.
